Tea at Trianon: Swim Upstream or Die

John Wilson Croker on Marie-Antoinette

"We have followed the history of Marie Antoinette with the greatest diligence and scrupulosity. We have lived in those times. We have talked with some of her friends and some of her enemies; we have read, certainly not all, but hundreds of the libels written against her; and we have, in short, examined her life with– if we may be allowed to say so of ourselves– something of the accuracy of contemporaries, the diligence of inquirers, and the impartiality of historians, all combined; and we feel it our duty to declare, in as a solemn a manner as literature admits of, our well-matured opinion that every reproach against the morals of the queen was a gross calumny– that she was, as we have said, one of the purest of human beings."

~from History of the Guillotine by John Wilson Croker, 1844

Edmund Burke on Marie-Antoinette

"It is now sixteen or seventeen years since I saw the queen of France, then dauphiness, at Versailles; and surely there never lighted on this orb, which she hardly seemed to touch, a more delightful vision. I saw her just above the horizon, decorating and cheering the elevated sphere she had just begun to move in, glittering like a morning star full of life and splendor and joy. Oh, what a revolution....Little did I dream that I should have lived to see such disasters fall upon her, in a nation of gallant men, in a nation of men of honor and of cavaliers! I thought ten thousand swords must have leaped from their scabbards, to avenge even a look which threatened her with insult. But the age of chivalry is gone; that of sophisters, economists, and calculators has succeeded...."

~Edmund Burke, October 1790

Wednesday, August 3, 2022

Swim Upstream or Die

From Dr. Zmirak at The Stream:

I was excited to watch Donald Trump’s speech at the America First Policy Institute, in part because I honestly haven’t heard him speak in months. While he was still in the White House, that became a regular treat. Because Trump doesn’t speak like ordinary politicians.

He speaks like my dad. (A blunt letter-carrier, like Trump from Queens.) Like most people’s dads, unless you’re a blue-blood. And that was always refreshing, especially compared to other politicians:
Bill Clinton, who speaks like a sociopathic traveling Bible salesman who’s out to seduce you in a barn, then steal your artificial limb.

George W. Bush, who sounds like Forrest Gump wandered into the White House and ended up standing in front of a microphone.

Barack Obama, who sounds like a parole officer who envies his perps and desperately wants them to think he is cool.

Hillary Clinton, who talks like Big Nurse from One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest.

Joe Biden, who’s Grandpa Simpson, except he’s in charge of the nukes, not Homer.

Kamala Harris, who is the Mean Lady from the DMV who tells you your documentation is insufficient, she doesn’t care how long you waited in line.

Mike Pence, who sounds like paint drying on the wall of your room in rehab.
It’s incredibly refreshing to hear a man in politics call a sicko a “sicko.” Instead of muttering something about the “Minor-Attracted People community.” (Read more.)